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Many many years ago, I used to take the 560 from Kamal Cinema to Connaught Place (in Delhi for those who don't know these references) with a couple of geeky fri

Many many years ago, I used to take the 560 from Kamal Cinema to Connaught Place (in Delhi for those who don't know these references) with a couple of geeky friends. We would walk from the CP bus terminus to Connaught Circle, grab a bite to eat at Nirulas and then make the pilgrimage to the MIR store, which used to occupy a huge space right in the middle of the circle. I don't even know what's in that space now. Probably a McDonalds or a jewelry store. That's where I bought books by Piskunov, Nikolskii, Perelman and many many other books. I still remember being puzzled that every discovery that had one name attached to it in the the western texts that I got out of the British Council Library - the next stop in the pilgrimage - had another name, usually ending in -ov or -sky attached to it in the MIR books. That was before the end of the Soviet Union, liberalization and Shining India. That world has faded away faster than my imagined memories of Gondor.

kranner 7y ago
Delhi had a Mir store?? I wish I'd known. My only access to Mir books as a 10-13 year old in Punjab was an annual 'book fair' consisting of a few roofless stalls of Mir books laid out in the local market. They were fantastic books about science, math, astronomy, engineering and at Rs 10-20 it was amazing as a kid to buy many books at one go.
balladeer 7y ago
Was it a Mir store? Or is it People’s Publication office/bookstore? The book store/publishing house run by ICP? They are still around. They used to stock Progress Publication books too - USSR’s literary cousin of Mir (they’ve stopped stocking Mir now). I am not from Delhi but whenever I’d visit I’d go there to check out some translations, especially Hindi translations of Russian works. I still go - I was introduced to Russian literature in Hindi and I still crave for that. I bought Cossacks’s Hindi translation few months back. PS. I bought my first IE Irodov in Delhi though. Sunday market.
- rajekas 7y ago
  It wasn't called MIR for sure. People's Publishing House or some variant sounds about right. I am amazed that it's still there - does it occupy a cavernous space in the heart of the circle? Edit: it's quite possible that what's called PPH now is the inheritor of the space I used to go to, but it's not the same space as far as I can tell from online photos.
  - balladeer 7y ago
    PPH isn’t tiny but wouldn’t call it very big either. The only other book store from there I recall was named something like The English Book Store. I’ve been going there since 2004ish only I think. Once in 2-3 years maybe. I’m going to Delhi in a few weeks, if I manage to visit Connaught Place I’ll look/ask around :)

kranner 7y ago

Delhi had a Mir store?? I wish I'd known. My only access to Mir books as a 10-13 year old in Punjab was an annual 'book fair' consisting of a few roofless stalls of Mir books laid out in the local market. They were fantastic books about science, math, astronomy, engineering and at Rs 10-20 it was amazing as a kid to buy many books at one go.

balladeer 7y ago

Was it a Mir store? Or is it People’s Publication office/bookstore? The book store/publishing house run by ICP? They are still around. They used to stock Progress Publication books too - USSR’s literary cousin of Mir (they’ve stopped stocking Mir now). I am not from Delhi but whenever I’d visit I’d go there to check out some translations, especially Hindi translations of Russian works. I still go - I was introduced to Russian literature in Hindi and I still crave for that. I bought Cossacks’s Hindi translation few months back. PS. I bought my first IE Irodov in Delhi though. Sunday market.

rajekas 7y ago
It wasn't called MIR for sure. People's Publishing House or some variant sounds about right. I am amazed that it's still there - does it occupy a cavernous space in the heart of the circle? Edit: it's quite possible that what's called PPH now is the inheritor of the space I used to go to, but it's not the same space as far as I can tell from online photos.
- balladeer 7y ago
  PPH isn’t tiny but wouldn’t call it very big either. The only other book store from there I recall was named something like The English Book Store. I’ve been going there since 2004ish only I think. Once in 2-3 years maybe. I’m going to Delhi in a few weeks, if I manage to visit Connaught Place I’ll look/ask around :)